Spider
by canofsquirrels
Summary: Ikuto gets to know his across the hall neighbor a little better. "'Hinamori-san, are you in… here… uhhhh…' Ikuto couldn't help but stare at the scene in front of him. Strong willed but kind Amu Hinamori was crouched into the corner of her spacious living room, holding one slipper in her hand, tears and a determined look in her eyes, and glaring at nothing."


"Eeeek!" Ikuto heard the shriek coming from the apartment across from his as he locked his door. Curiosity peaked; he meandered across the short distance and lifted his hand to knock.

He'd become acquainted with his across the hall neighbor Amu, but seldom spoke to her aside from an occasional, "hello" and "nice weather we're having." For him, the sheer amount of human interaction was rather impressive. For her, it was minimalist. She was friendly with almost all of their neighbors, the exception being an older woman who called her a floozy and accused her of dying her hair, although she insisted pink was her natural color.

Ikuto knew this from one of the times that they had reached the stairs at the same time on their way down in the morning. After Ikuto pointed out her rather curt nod to the woman, Amu had flushed a color to rival her roots and looked away for a few seconds. When she looked back, her face had cooled down a bit, although not entirely, and she had explained the hostility between the two of them.

As they neared the last flight of stairs, Amu finished her story. Ikuto began to ask her something to keep her talking since he was interested in the mere act of the woman speaking. However, another women who at one point was likely quite attractive but to Ikuto was nameless entered the stairway, cutting him off. Amu had greeted her with the air of being completely interested with what they had to say that she carried with all people, no matter who they were. The two women began speaking excitedly about a show Ikuto had never heard and had no interest in hearing about, so he muttered a quiet, "See you later, Hinamori-san," as they squealed about some pop star or actor, and went on his way.

Thinking back to this, Ikuto began to question his concern. Her scream back in the stairwell had sounded astonishingly similar to her yelp moments ago. However, if something had gone wrong and she was in need of assistance, he could earn some brownie points with the extremely attractive woman. He'd like that. A lot.

Making up his mind that if she didn't need assistance, showing concern could still work in his favor, Ikuto knocked on the door and called, "Hinamori-san, are you alright? I heard a scream."

He heard a whimper, then a weak, "Tsukiyomi-san, is that you?" When he gently called an affirmation to her question, he heard a sniffle then a, "Can you come in here please? It won't take long and the door is unlocked."

Ikuto raised an eyebrow at the suggestion since he didn't think that she would be naïve enough to trust that he was telling the truth without looking for herself, but he let himself in, calling out the obligatory, "Sorry for intruding," and walking the few feet into what he presumed was her living room. "Hinamori-san, are you in… here… uhhhh…" Ikuto couldn't help but stare at the scene in front of him. Strong willed but kind Amu Hinamori was crouched into the corner of her spacious living room, holding one slipper in her hand, tears and a determined look in her eyes, and glaring at nothing.

Her head snapped up and she called out to him, cheeks on fire, "Can you come over here, please?" Her tone was surprisingly whiney in nature.

Ikuto's eyebrow still cocked, he hesitated, "Sure…" and walked over to the girl. When he reached her, he could finally see what had the woman looking so disturbed. A pathetically small spider was hanging directly in front of her face. His quick mind put together what was bothering her—arachnophobia—which made him have to hold in a sizable chuckle.

Coughing to cover his laughter that had managed to bubble out, he questioned the girl, "You want me to kill it?" in the least mocking voice he could manage. In her traumatized state, all she could seem to manage was to squeeze her eyes shut and vigorously shake her head in confirmation.

Ikuto pursed his lips, reached over and grabbed the slipper from her grip, and quickly brought the poor creature's life to an end using said footwear, and then put a hand on her shoulder. "Amu, the dark deed you have requested is complete."

She blinked open her eyes, and looked up at Ikuto who couldn't help his grin. He handed her back the slipper he'd taken, which she took automatically. As she processed what had happened, Amu flushed five different shades of red. Looking down and wiping the tears from her eyes, she said "Thank you… Tsukiyomi-san…"

"Sure, Amu, no problem. Just ask me next time, I'll help." He turned to leave, grin quickly turning into a smirk, but was stopped by her hand grabbing his sleeve.

"Could you please… not tell anyone about this? It's a bit pathetic, what with me being an adult and all."

The tears on her eyelashes left over from her ordeal made it hard for him, but he couldn't help but to make a demand, "Only if you start calling me Ikuto instead of Tsukiyomi." Seeing Amu's cheeks begin to bloom bright red once again and listening to her start to sputter made his slight feeling of guilt from taking advantage of the situation vanish. With that, he left, not quite understanding his own actions, but feeling content.

As he walked down the stairs, Ikuto let out a chuckle at the thought. Unobtainable and perfect Amu from across the hall had such a strong fear of such a non-threatening creature. Knowing this was quite satisfying, to be honest. Not only was it satisfying, it made his crush on the girl grow to new heights. Not only did he now share a secret with the girl, she'd probably be inviting him into her home quite often from now on. Smirking at the realization, it also dawned on him that his little sister with a brother complex would be horrified.

Score.


End file.
